Windows 11 is here! (Pt 1/2)
Windows 11 is (un)officially a thing! There were several rumors floating around the interwebs that the next version of Windows will be versioned 11; and the constant teases from Microsoft were definitely pointing to that. Now, this is indeed confirmed by a leaked ISO for an unfinished Windows 11.
I am pretty excited about this next version of Windows, since this will be a significant UI overhaul since Windows 10 launched in 2015 (wow, has it been that long?). So naturally, when I heard there is a leaked build, I had to get my hands on it and check it out. I wasn’t gonna install it on my primary machine, even my secondary (you should never trust software from unknown sources); so I decided to dust off my retired gaming laptop from 2014 (a Lenovo Y50-70) and bring it back to life.
Installation attempt 1
Put in a spare Samsung 500GB SSD that I had, burnt the Windows 11 ISO to a USB stick, and boot up the installation media. Hit install.
Unable to install. Your computer does not meet the minimum requirements to install Windows. Visit aka.ms/some-nonexistent-link to check minimum requirements.
❓ 🤔 Huh…
Installation attempt 2
Burnt a Windows 10 ISO to a USB stick, boot it up, hit install.
Hi, I’m Cortana! And I’m here to help. A little sign-in here, a touch of WiFi there, and we’ll have your PC ready to go!
🙄 Okay…
Inserted the Windows 11 USB stick and launched setup.exe.
This PC can’t run Windows 11. Here’s why: The PC must support TPM 2.0.
❗ Really? Maybe because this is an unfinished build. Or maybe it is a real requirement.
Whatever may be the case, I had to get around it somehow.
To be continued…